Oregon State 26, UCLA 19: Beavers hold on for victory after nearly giving it away

Motoya Nakamura/The OregonianJames Rodgers (No. 8) is mobbed by teammates after he scores what turned out to be the winning touchdown Saturday against UCLA. CORVALLIS -- Exhale, Beaver Nation.

After blowing a 19-3 lead in the final 10 minutes, Oregon State put together a last-minute 70-yard drive to squeak past UCLA 26-19 Saturday at Reser Stadium, the Beavers' first win over the Bruins in Corvallis since 1999.

James Rodgers scored the winning touchdown on a 17-yard end-around with 44 seconds left but the victory wasn't secure until time ran out with the Bruins at the OSU 15-yard-line.

As near misses go, this was off the charts.

"We had some chances to pull off a memorable one," said UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, whose Bruins have now lost five in a row.

For the OSU fans in the announced crowd of 41,009 on Halloween, it was terrifying.

UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Nelson Rosario and Nelson caught a two-point conversion pass to make it 19-11 with 8:39 left.

Later, a 12-men-on-the-field penalty on OSU kept a Bruins' drive alive, and Prince threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Taylor Embree. When Prince zipped a slant pass to Johnathan Franklin for another two-point conversion, it was 19-19 with 2:06 left.

Reser was deathly quiet but on the OSU sideline, players said there was no panic.

In a strange beginning to one of the most dramatic drives in recent OSU history, Canfield dropped back on the ensuing first down and tried to hit James Rodgers on a quick sideline pass.

"He misread the coverage," Riley said. "They snuck into 'Cover 2,' which they had run very little during the day, and he didn't see it."

Rodgers broke one way, the ball went another and while everyone sucked in their breath, UCLA right corner Alterraun Verner swooped in for what looked like an easy interception that he would be able to walk into the end zone.

But somehow he couldn't hold on to the ball, everyone exhaled and the grateful Beavers proceeded to go 70 yards in seven plays. Like that, a potential career-altering pass became a footnote.

"That was bad," said Canfield, who threw for 305 yards in the game. "That could have been real bad."

Riley, who rode an emotional roller-coaster throughout the wild fourth quarter, had an even stronger reaction. "I was ready to go home," he said. "I didn't know if I wanted to watch the rest."

When Riley uncovered his eyes, he saw Canfield suddenly connect on completions of 22 yards to Jacquizz Rodgers, eight yards to James Rodgers, 10 more yards to Jacquizz again and then 15 yards to tight end Joe Halahuni.

"We had enough time," Canfield said.

It almost turned out to be too much. No one would have been surprised if UCLA had scored and taken the game into overtime.

But ugly, beautiful or in-between it was a win that puts the Beavers one victory from bowl eligibility.

Excluding the part where they nearly kicked the game away, the Beavers did a few things right:

Playing in front of their mom, Tasha Williams, the Rodgers brothers were, well, the Rodgers brothers. James had 10 catches for 106 yards. Jacquizz ran for 112 yards, caught seven passes for 92 more and even threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brady Camp after taking a direct snap in the Wildcat formation.

Canfield said the first time OSU ran the play in practice, Rodgers "threw a terrible ball, but every week he got better at it and better at it and it paid off for him."

This time, everything worked to perfection, and Jacquizz Rodgers threw a dart.

"I went to him on the bench and asked him if he was trying to take my job," Canfield said.

The play came with 1:12 left in the first half, and it gave the Beavers a 13-0 lead, which seemed like a steep mountain to climb for UCLA (3-4, 0-5) given the Bruins' struggles on offense.

Camp said he heard the play called in the huddle, but it didn't sink it until he lined up and said to himself, 'Wait a minute, is this for real?'

"I can't believe it actually worked," said Camp, with a big grin.

It worked, and although the Beavers had trouble moving the ball much of the afternoon against UCLA's stubborn defense, the Bruins were at times laughable on offense and everyone assumed piling up a 19-3 lead with 10 minutes to play was enough to get the job done.

"It was bang-bang," Riley said, "and they were back in it."

But in the end OSU held it together, and that gives this week's game at Cal a lot more meaning.

"You all saw it, there was a lot of stuff that wasn't perfect today," Riley said, "but there was a lot of good football, too."